


It's Perfect

by shockandlock



Series: Trials of Fatherhood [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherhood, Gen, Mercenaries, dad jeralt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 01:10:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20826881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shockandlock/pseuds/shockandlock
Summary: It's hard not to have doubts about being a parent, but Jeralt as a chance to prove himself with Byleth's birthday approaching.





	It's Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> I really want to get in the swing of writing more for this series, so I cranked this out.I just really love this kind of content, so I'll make it if I have to damn it.
> 
> Please enjoy!

“Am I a bad father?” Jeralt asks as he observes Byleth from the other side of the room. She’s quietly mulling over a strategy book even though she’s only… well, he doesn’t exactly keep track of how old she is.

“Why do you say that, boss?” Erdren says before taking another bite from the sizeable turkey leg in his hand.

“I’ve been around long enough to know what a judgemental look looks like.”

“Eh, you’re not  _ that  _ old,” he counters as he and many of the others often do whenever Jeralt brings up his age. Jeralt scoffs into his drink. If only they knew his real age– though he has stopped counting that too.

“None of us think you’re a bad father.” He hears a clunk across the table as Alysha sets down her own drink. “But it’s a little weird that you can’t even remember how old she is.”

“Nine, by the way, boss,” Erdren adds, spraying a mouthful of food across the table. Alysha scowls at him as she wipes a stray crumb off her face. Jeralt thought that she would be used to mercenary manners (or rather, lack thereof) by now, but an entire lifetime of noble upbringing is hard to shake off. “Almost ten.”

Byleth’s birthday is in about a week. He may misremember her age, but he would never forget her birthday.

“What are you going to get her?”

His mercenaries would always chip in some of their earnings to buy Byleth something nice for her birthday, but Jeralt’s gift is special. He’s her father after all. Unfortunately, she isn’t the easiest child to shop for. She never asks for much anyways and as mercenaries they had to think practically about what to get her.

“I thought about seeing if she wants to try out wielding axes,” he answers. He means it as a joke, but Alysha almost smacks him for it anyways. “I’m kidding. I was going to go take a look for something at the market later if you guys can keep her distracted.”

Erdren flashes a thumbs-up. His fingers are still covered in sauce from his turkey.

“Wipe your hands off,” Alysha chides. “She might throw her knife at you if you ruin her book.”

While Jeralt doesn’t want any of his mercenaries coming to harm, he would admit that he would be proud if Byleth ended up hitting her mark.

He doesn’t usually like going out shopping alone. Without anyone else around, he feels that maybe someone would stare at him a little too long and recognize him, but he knew that was a longshot. For Byleth, he would endure it. The bustle is actually quite nice in reminding him to slow down for a change.

He doesn’t just want to get another weapon or tactics book for her, even though he knows that she’ll like that stuff. While he absolutely supports the more practical gifts, she deserves something a little different this year– deserves a bit of normalcy from being raised in this life.

A stall lined with small trinkets draws his eye, specifically some charms made of strings woven together. The ends finish in some misshapen beads resembling stones of some kind. He immediately knows which one is perfect for Byleth. There’s one with a gold string with shiny blue-purple beads that match the color of her knife scabbard perfectly. 

It’s thankfully not too expensive, but he’s still careful to count out the change exactly (fund conservation has always been important to their group). He pockets it so that she won’t see it when he returns.

“Having fun, kid?” While Jeralt was gone, they had whipped out the chess set. Unsurprisingly, Erdren is in a tight spot. In fairness, Alysha wouldn’t fare any better against Byleth, and even he has his doubts about his own chess skills against her. Jeralt can’t exactly bring himself to be mad about it.

She hums quietly in response, eyes focused on the board. He reaches down to ruffle her hair and laughs when she groans and swats his hand away. Grateful for the distraction, he grabs his bag and tucks the charm between the pages of his journal, a place no one will dare look.

* * *

A lot of the company use Byleth’s birthday as another excuse to get drunk, even though she is quite far from the drinking age herself. Still, they care, chipping in for the gift or helping with the food preparations. 

To some, it’s hard to really know what she thinks about her first gift (a high quality whetstone for her dagger), but Jeralt sees it in the way she clutches the package tightly at its edges. “It’s perfect,” he translates, and Byleth pouts just a little.

Jeralt doesn’t have any fancy wrapping paper for the charm. Instead, he says, “Here, kid, Hold out your hand,” and then places it into her upturned palm. “Happy birthday.”

Byleth stares at it quietly then holds it up, watching as the light glints off the bead on the end. She runs off towards her bag and digs around until she finds a bundle of twine. She pulls out her knife, snips off a piece of twine, then loops it around the scabbard and the charm to secure the two together.

“I’m guessing you like it then?”

He doesn’t get an answer from her, but the way she runs to show off her scabbard’s new look says enough to him.

No one around to listen, he still translates her silence to himself: “It’s perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments keep me going! Please leave one and some kudos!


End file.
